Vehicular audio sound systems and components thereof are widely available as aftermarket devices intended to be installed in a motor vehicle which has been purchased by a consumer. The components of sound systems are typically made available to the public by manufacturers who are specialists in their field, and who are not manufacturers of automobiles. The sound system components are intended for installation in the vehicular products of many different manufacturers and models of vehicles. Therefore, the components are not designed with precise fit within any particular vehicle.
Components such as amplifiers are typically installed in motor vehicles in areas which offer a generally protected and concealed location. A typical example is in the trunk of an automobile. However, the nature of spaces that are protected and concealed, given that automobile surfaces may be irregularly contoured, may result in an otherwise suitable space or location within a vehicle that is nearly but not quite adequate for installing a component such as an amplifier flush against a structural wall of the vehicle body.
This leaves the audio installer with a problem as to how best cope with this misfit. One answer is to mount a component such as an amplifier spaced apart from a body wall. Such a mounting may well forego the benefits of nesting the component securely against the wall. For example, the component may project into used or occupied space such that it risks damage by contact with objects being stored in the vehicle. This not only risks damage to the component, but also intrudes into and renders less useful the selected area of the vehicle. The component may also become objectionably conspicuous or exposed to view.
Misfit may occur even where a manufacturer has left space for a component such as an amplifier. For example, the space designed into a vehicle body may have a footprint of ten inches by twelve inches, whereas a particular amplifier may have footprint dimensions of eight inches by sixteen inches.
A need exists in the prior art for a component such as an audio amplifier which displays ability to accommodate differently configured and dimensioned mounting spaces within motor vehicles.